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Roasted Summer Squash with Lemon, Mint, and Feta

Summer squash is roasted with lemon and mint and tossed with Feta cheese for this delicious Roasted Summer Squash with Lemon, Mint, and Feta, and this tasty dish is low-carb, Keto, low-glycemic, gluten-free, South Beach Diet friendly, and perfect for Meatless Monday!

Mint is a perennial herb that lots of gardeners love to hate, but I've been a mint fan for many years now and I even shared my ideas for Cooking with Fresh Mint in a post a few years back. Two things I know about growing mint: (1) Be sure it's planted in a spot where it's completely contained by some kind of barrier or it will take over everything in its path! (2) Mint is very hardy, and if you have mint growing you're probably searching for ways to use it by mid summer.

And at my house we're still looking for ways to use the zucchini that keeps showing up in the garden as well, so this Roasted Summer Squash with Lemon, Mint, and Feta seems like a perfect idea for Meatless Monday this week.

The idea of roasting zucchini with lemon and chopped fresh mint came from a recipe I found in Vegetable Love, and I was skeptical about the idea of roasting mint, but it definitely worked! I've made this quite a few times, and through the years I started using lots more mint than the original recipe called for. And then one time I had the idea of tossing the finished dish with a generous amount of crumbled Feta cheese, which definitely kicked it up several notches.

If you're a vegetarian or faithful Meatless Monday fan, you can find more meatless main dishes or side dishes with the photo-index pages for Meatless Recipes or Vegan Recipes. And you also might like my Meatless Monday Pinterest Board with meatless recipe ideas from food bloggers all around the web!

(Roasted Summer Squash with Lemon, Mint, and Feta was first posted in 2007 and updated with better photos and the addition of Feta cheese in August 2016.)

Cut up the zucchini and/or summer squash into strips about two inches long. Combine olive oil, lemon juice, chopped mint, and salt. Put the squash in a bowl and toss with the mint mixture, then spread it out on a baking sheet, in a single layer as much as possible. (Mine is a bit too crowded! It's best to have some space between the squash even if you need to use two baking sheets.)

Roast the squash about 35-45 minutes (or until it has browned to your liking), turning every 15 minutes or so. When the squash is down, toss it with the crumbled Feta.

Season to taste with fresh ground black pepper and serve hot or at room temperature. For a low-carb Meatless Monday dinner, I think this would be great with Green Tomato Gazpacho or Spicy Cabbage Salad.

Preheat oven to 475 F, and put oven rack as high as it will go. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray.

Wash squash and cut off stem and flower ends. Cut each squash into quarters lengthwise, then cut into pieces about 2 inches long.

Combine olive oil, lemon juice, mint and salt ; then put that mixture into a plastic bowl and toss squash with the mixture. Arrange squash on roasting pan, in a single layer as much as possible. (I would recommend using two baking sheets if it seems really crowded.)

Roast squash, turning every 15-20 minutes, until slightly browned and cooked to your liking. I turned my squash twice, with a total cooking time of 45 minutes, but I would start checking after 35 minutes. When the squash is done, put it back into the same bowl and toss with the Feta cheese.

Season with fresh-ground black pepper to taste. This can be served hot or at room temperature.

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
This is a perfect low-carb side dish that would be great for any phase of the South Beach Diet. If you omit the Feta cheese the recipe could also be Paleo or Whole 30 approved, as well as vegan.

If you want nutritional information for a recipe, you can sign up for a free membership with Yummly and use the Yum button on my site to save the recipe and see the nutritional information. Another option is entering the recipe into this Recipe Nutrition Analyzer, which will calculate it for you.

More Delicious Ideas for Summer Squash:
(Recipes from other blogs not always South Beach Diet or Low-Carb friendly; check ingredients.)

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32 comments:

I'm glad you mentioned tossing the leftovers with some feta cheese because I was going to suggest it in my comment! When I was in California, we ate farmer's market squash with lemon juice, olive oil and feta cheese. So simple, so good! I bet if I looked on your site, you've already done something similar :-) I'm going to try some zucchini roasted with mint tonight for dinner. Thanks for the recipe!

I've roasted summer squash twice during the last fortnight, using a very similar recipe to yours - excellent and easy dish! As my mum keeps supplying marrows/squashes to me, I should be able to try your minty version very, very soon:)

So, if it's yellow it's summer squash and if it's green it's zucchini? They're all 'courgette' here...simple.Lovely recipe - My courgette have just started producing again after an unexplained lull. And of course I have the mint ;-)And the feta for the.... What leftovers?

This seems very unusual. I would love to try it and would if I were home next to my mint!Great place for your mint, mine keeps wanting to take over the grass.The black bean salad is a favorite of mine always.

Thank you for listing my recipe- I was thinking (always dangerous) how about using almond meal or ground nuts (pecans come to mind) tossed in a little olive oil and herbs to replace the crumbs in my gratin recipe?

A lovely recipe. I still remember how good was your recipe of Toasted Pumpkin with Rosemary and balsamic vinegar. I'd like to try this recipe which goes with the summer weather we've got these days in France (we call it Indian Summer).

Doesn't mint just brighten any dish? I love it on so many veggies. And you're right about the different varieties--there's this one farmer at our market who sells apple mint and chocolate mint too, and the chocolate one really does smell like chocolate!

Looks simple and delicious. I planted mint (which needless to say, grows just fine by virtue of being mint) but hardly ever use it. This seems like a very natural combination and I'll have to experiment with it. And maybe have a nice mint julep alongside it to stick with the theme. ;-)

I love mint, and have some growing in a pot on my deck. The place where I'm work has a lemon tree so prolific it's amazing! This sounds like a fabulous way to use some of these very 'local' ingredients! You'll see a spring of the mint in my post for tomorrow (WHB entry). It looks like you are enjoying your garden to the max!

I guess I'll have to try it now! ;) Just returned Vegetable Love to the library a couple of weeks ago...it was hard! I had so many post-its and notes of recipes to try, but I'll be checking it out again when I have more time to cook!

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